Category Archives: Chicago

Chicago Should Enforce Its Energy Benchmarking Ordinance

Chicago, climate,

Kudos to my climate friend, Charlotte, for getting an op-ed published in the local business press about Chicago leaving millions on the table by ignoring its energy benchmarking law.

Here’s the basic gist: in Chicago, about 70% of greenhouse gas emissions come from buildings. Since 2013, the Chicago Building Energy Use Benchmarking Ordinance has required buildings over 50,000 square feet to report their energy usage and emissions data to the city annually.

But the ordinance has never been enforced. That means the city is neglecting to collect millions of dollars in fines every year. And, of course, they’re also failing to collect high-quality data about our progress toward our climate goals and missing out on key opportunities to help folks learn about and implement about cost-saving and emission-cutting measures in big buildings.

So, a bunch of us have been advocating for the city to put money in the 2026 budget to hire an inspector in the Dept. of Environment who can enforce the ordinance. It’s common sense. Whether your main concern is a balanced city budget, averting the worst climate chaos, collecting high-quality data, or just plain old accountability and rule-following, getting the resources in place to enforce the benchmarking ordinance would be a win.

If you live in Chicago, you can use this template to contact your alderperson and tell them that you support enforcing the benchmarking ordinance.

Double Mega Climate Win in Illinois

Chicago, climate, justice

Just when I was starting to think that there was no such things as good news anymore … At the very end of the Illinois General Assembly’s veto session this week, two major wins for the climate (and for regular folks’ cost-of-living around here) passed.

The Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability (CRGA – pronounced “surge-uh”) Act is an omnibus bill that will lower utility bills and reduce greenhouse gas emissions through efficiency programs, stabilize volatile energy costs by implementing virtual power plant (VPP) programs and by adding 3GW battery storage to the electric grid (so we don’t have to buy energy from the most expensive fossil fuel peaker power plants when demand is high), improve grid reliability by reducing transmission bottlenecks, spur innovation by supporting thermal energy network (TENs) pilots, improve access to data about energy usage and emissions in buildings, and more.

The Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA) Act will not just avert a looming fiscal disaster for regional public transit, but it will make investments that are crucial for improving safety, reliability, and comfort for riders. But even folks who don’t use public transit will benefit from the resulting cleaner air, reduced climate pollution, economic and social stability that depends on workers and friends being able to get where they need to go, and reductions in traffic congestion and sprawl.

It took literally thousands of us to make this happen, and I want to personally say THANK YOU to everyone who made a phone call, sent an email, filled out a witness slip, posted on social media, lobbied, mailed a postcard, attended a meeting, talked to a neighbor/colleague/loved one about these efforts, did supporting research, designed a poster, tabled at an event, volunteered at a lobby day, canvassed, hung flyers, or anything else to help!

Our work as activists isn’t over – we still need to implement these new policies, and there’s a lot we can do to build on these successes to get closer to the clean, healthy, stable, affordable, equitable future that we all want and deserve. But for now, kudos to all my climate friends!!

an image of a colorful cartoon owl holding a beach ball with the words "Summer at CPL"

Upcoming Talk at the CHI Public Library

Chicago, climate, ,

On Saturday, July 12th, from 11 AM to 12 PM at the Coleman Branch of the Chicago Public Library, I’ll be representing the Chicago Metro Chapter of the Climate Reality Project by giving a talk called, “Reducing Emissions from Chicago Buildings Will Save Money, Protect Health, Create Jobs, and Stabilize the Climate.”

My presentation is part of the adult programming for the Summer at CPL, which includes lots of great activities for folks of all ages. This year’s theme is “Growing Minds, Going Green.”

I’d love to see you there!

(Or give a similar talk for any community group or class who’d like to have me!)

Video: Reducing Emissions from Buildings in Chicago

Chicago, climate,

Since about 70% of all greenhouse gas emissions in Chicago come from our buildings, I’ve been leading a small team of Climate Reality Project volunteers with the goal of helping bring those building emissions down over time. That will take lots of work, but thankfully, we’ve got many wonderful coalition partners at the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition (and the clean buildings working group in particular)!

Last week, my teammates and I gave a presentation to the general membership of Climate Reality’s Chicago Metro Chapter about what building decarbonization is, why it is so important, what our team has accomplished over the last year, and the projects we’ve currently got in the pipeline. Consider taking a look at that presentation, and let me know if you want to get involved or form some sort of partnership with our team!

(The main presentation starts about 10 minutes in – after some intro material from our chapter chair.)

Chicago Higher Education Buildings Need to Decarbonize

Chicago, climate,

Recently, my team over at the Climate Reality Project’s Chicago Metro Chapter released a report that draws connections between existing citywide energy benchmarking policies and climate goals, energy usage and emissions on college and university campuses, and strategies for working toward emission reductions. 

Check out the report “Addressing Greenhouse Gas Emissions on Chicago Campuses” or just get the highlights through the coverage by Illinois PIRG and The Columbia Chronicle.

Addressing Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Chicago Campus Buildings: A Report

Chicago, climate, justice, , ,

With about 70% of climate-destabilizing greenhouse gas emissions in Chicago coming from buildings, it is important to know which ones are among the highest emitters, so that we can make the changes necessary to meet the goals in Chicago’s Climate Action Plan. 

As I learned while working with my team at the Climate Reality Project’s Chicago Metro Chapter, university buildings are among Chicago’s top emitters of climate-warming gasses per square foot. Seven university buildings ranked among the top ten most emissions intensive buildings in the city in 2021!

We recently released a report, Addressing Greenhouse Gas Emissions on Chicago Campuses, which relies on data from electrifychicago.net. That website allows users to get specific, publicly available energy usage and emissions information for individual large buildings that owners are required to report to the city under the Chicago Energy Benchmarking Ordinance. The website also helps users rank and group buildings to allow for better understanding of the data.

Using that excellent resource as a starting place, we identified a number of college and university campus buildings that are making outsize contributions to the climate crisis, as well as multiple institutions of higher education that have failed to comply with the benchmarking ordinance in recent years. We also uncovered a systemic failure on the city’s part to enforce the ordinance – foregoing as much as $30 million in potential fines.

We issued the report to spur universities to decarbonize their buildings by improving energy efficiency and by moving away from fossil fuels like methane gas. The report also highlights actions at the state and city level to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and provides strategies for students and others concerned about climate change to work toward emission reductions.

The Climate Reality Project’s Chicago Metro Chapter is an all-volunteer group of Chicago area activists working to catalyze local solutions to the climate crisis since 2017.

To improve our electric grid, transportation system, and buildings, I support the ICJC platform.

Chicago, climate, justice, , ,

This week, the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition announced a comprehensive legislative platform to boldly and rapidly accelerate the state’s climate, equity, and clean energy goals.

The platform is a set of bills (the Clean and Reliable Grid Act, the Clean and Equitable Transportation Act, and the Clean and Healthy Buildings Act) that will lower greenhouse gas emissions, create green jobs, and improve health and safety in our communities. Together, these bills would be transformative in helping us work toward climate stability, financial security, fairness across communities, and health statewide.

If you live in Illinois, I invite you to join me in supporting the ICJC platform.

Ror folks who don’t live here, with your help, the ICJC’s work can serve as a model for related efforts elsewhere!

DePaul student Charlie LaBerge’s “Future of Chicago Climate Change” Podcast

Chicago, climate,

Recently, Charlie LaBerge, a student at DePaul University taking a course in climate change communications, interviewed a couple of my fellow Climate Reality Project volunteers and me about our chapter’s work – our past, present, and future efforts to respond to the climate crisis locally here in Chicago.

I really got a kick out of the experience – working with students is something that I miss, and it was a great opportunity to reflect on our collective efforts!

Charlie used that interview, along with some other materials, to create an impressive podcast for his class project, and was generous enough to share it publicly, so you can listen here to check it out.

Building Decarbonization on Chicago Campuses

Chicago, climate,

This past week, as a team leader for the Chicago Metro Chapter of the Climate Reality Project, I hosted a Zoom event about building decarbonization for various student groups around the city. Since about 70% of greenhouse gas emissions in the city come from our buildings, we simply must reduce emissions from buildings in order to meet our climate commitments!

It was great to be able to share what my team has been learning with folks from multiple universities, and to help energize and support the students’ own campaigns for greater on-campus sustainability. We’re in the beginning phases of some collaborative efforts, and here’s hoping for many fruitful interactions to come!

If you want to watch the presentation, you can find it on our chapter’s YouTube channel.

Supporting DePaul Students’ Climate Activism

Chicago, climate,

As part of my volunteer work with the Chicago Metro Chapter of The Climate Reality Project, last week I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Rose O’Keeffe, a student journalist at DePaul University.

The short version of the story is that, in response to learning about some of the high-emitting and energy-intensive buildings on their campus, the student government leadership at DePaul has called on the university president to direct the development of a campus climate action plan. I’m delighted to have been able to play a small role in pushing DePaul’s decision-makers in a more climate-friendly direction, but more importantly, I’m really impressed with what the students are doing under their own steam and I look forward to supporting them in any way I can!

Take a look at Rose’s article here.